BY CARDEN HEDELT

Clad in a bright yellow SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt, 2-year old Jeff Cobb Jr. carried his father's helmet onto the practice field at Colonial Beach High School.

The youngster struggled to keep the helmet from dragging on the ground while keeping up with his father, who was on his way to football practice with the semiprofessional Northern Neck Rivermen.

"That's what I always wanted, to have your son carry your stuff onto the field" said Jeff Cobb Sr., a 40-year-old defensive end from King George. "Hopefully, they'll get interested in it too."

Over the past 13 years, the game has been more than an interest for the elder Cobb, known as "Jazz" to his teammates.

A journeyman by NFL standards, Cobb has played on four semipro teams. His most recent stop has been the upstart Rivermen, based in Colonial Beach.

"I just love the game," Cobb said. "I love the competition, I love the sport. I watch it 24-7, and if I can still play, I'm going to play."

Cobb warmed up and stretched with the rest of the Rivermen, who practice twice a week at Colonial Beach.

The team is made up of a vast array of players, differing in skill level and appearance from former high school standouts to professional players.

Leading the stretches was Adwela Dawes, who played in the Arena Football League before trying his hand at semipro football.

Even though the skill level of the players might differ, Dawes said that passion for the game is the great equalizer in semiprofessional football.

"We're grown men. We're playing for pride, and there are no pushovers out here," said Dawes, a native of Culpeper. "The competitive nature is much like the AFL. You have grown men, some of them who have tasted the success of being a pro athlete or being a college athlete, where this is all they have."

But Dawes have noticed an absence of the egos that usually accompany professional athletes.

"The egos we do have, it's a good thing it's more funny than it is annoying," he said. "We have a bunch of dedicated guys who are out here for the common good. There's nobody out here that will jump on anybody and be condescending, and that's unheard of at any level."